Say Hello To The Night
by Rebecca Redd
Summary: Fern fell for Sam Winchester first, but her best friend Jess was the one he loved. Years after Jessica's tragic death, Sam and Fern meet again under perilous circumstances. Fern is introduced to a terrifying new world that she never knew existed, while Sam sees a side of Fern that she kept hidden in college.


Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for clicking on my story. Feel free to let me know if you find any errors or inconsistencies, and drop me a line to let me know what you think of this prologue. Without further ado...

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Prologue

Fern saw him first. The second semester of freshman year she took Art History I for a humanities requirement. Three minutes before the start of the first class, she was organizing her binder when a shadow fell across her desk. She glanced up… and up… and up.

He was huge: tall and already very broad, though he hadn't finished filling out and was destined to bulk up further in the years to come. He was cute too, and she felt a flutter of hope as their eyes met. Fern had been at university for five months and still hadn't had so much as a second date. She figured that she was overdue for a college romance, and maybe if he took the initiative, or she came out of her shell for once, he could be her first.

Fern offered him a shy smile, but he had already turned away. He sat down a few desks away and drew some attention from the rest of the class as he tried to fit his large frame into the small combo desk. She glanced sideways at him a few times, but the professor had started talking and the tall, cute guy appeared to have forgotten her.

Still, Fern held out hope, at least until Jess came in late. The guy hadn't glanced twice at Fern, but his eyes seemed to devour her blonde best friend, and his gaze lingered on her off and on for the rest of the hour. When he approached them at the end of class, Fern didn't have any doubt which of them he was interested in, and she stepped back accordingly. Sam Winchester, as he introduced himself, began by asking to see Jess's textbook— to be certain that he had bought the right one, of course— and finished by asking for her number.

Fern was used to losing guys to her friend. By the time they were fourteen she had figured out that Jess had it… whatever_ it_ was. Charisma, charm, animal magnetism, sex appeal. It had a lot of names but people knew it when they saw it, and they saw it in Jess.

Seen from a distance Fern was the more striking figure: tall and willowy with tight, glossy red curls. But at closer inspection she lacked… Well, beauty. Her blue eyes were too wide set, her nose had a slight hump and her face was thin. She wasn't an ogre, but even on a good day she didn't turn heads.

Jess was pretty, but more importantly she was outgoing. She had a way of putting people at ease and making them laugh. Young or old, ugly or attractive, social butterfly or social reject, people were almost always drawn to Jess. There were always a few hold-outs, usually jealous girls, but for the most part Jess was universally liked.

Next to her friend Fern felt like a cardboard cutout with no personality whatsoever. Despite her red hair, there was nothing fiery about her. She smiled when it was expected of her, laughed at every joke, even the stupid ones, and did her best to make small talk. But with most people, there was no connection, no flame. Or if there was a flame, it only went one way, such as the spark of desire that grew in her even as Sam and Jess dated, fell in love and moved in together.

Fern hung out with them both, listened to Jess dreamily describe their dates, and helped her friend pack up and move in with Sam at the end of sophomore year. She didn't feel guilty. She had no intention of ever acting on her feelings, and even if she had, Sam didn't want her.

Fern forced herself not to resent Jess. She had few friends, and none that she'd known as long as Jessica. They'd been together like peanut butter and jelly since sixth grade. Marissa McCall's nasty gossip hadn't come between them in seventh grade, and the death of Fern's mother had only brought them closer in tenth grade, so Fern would be damned if she'd let Sam Winchester or any other guy drive a wedge between them in college.

Besides, Jess was the ideal girlfriend: supportive, upbeat and affectionate. Most importantly, she didn't ask questions. Had their places been reversed, Fern would have asked. Early in Jess's relationship with Sam, Fern had sensed something unusual about him. On different days it had different flavors. Sometimes he hummed with barely leashed fury; sometimes Fern could see the shadows of secrets in his eyes. Sometimes there was only sadness.

Jess didn't pry. Perhaps she didn't notice it, or perhaps she worried that digging too deeply would undermine whatever sense of security Sam had managed to cultivate since he came to Stanford.

Whatever her reasons, Jess overlooked Sam's strangeness, right up to the day she burned to death in their bedroom.

In the aftermath of a tragedy, people reveal themselves. Some become your rock. Some are well meaning but completely ineffectual. And some vanish into thin air.

Sam was one of the people who vanished into thin air.

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